


stop this pain tonight

by reallylikeseggos



Series: it was always you [2]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, More Fluff, seriously it's just fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-04
Updated: 2016-10-04
Packaged: 2018-08-19 11:46:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8205346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reallylikeseggos/pseuds/reallylikeseggos
Summary: It’d been 10 years since the events of the fall of 1983. So much had changed since then, some not always for the better, but the one constant good El had always had was Mike Wheeler.





	

**Author's Note:**

> “where are you?  
> and i’m so sorry.  
> i cannot sleep, i cannot dream tonight.  
> i need somebody and always,  
> this sick, strange darkness,  
> comes creeping on so haunting every time.”

* * *

 

_December, 1993_

El awoke covered in a cold sweat, her brown eyes flying open.

She stared at the sporadic patterns all over the ceiling of her apartment bedroom, attempting to regulate her breathing as she laid on her back.

Nightmares weren’t an uncommon occurrence for El Byers – she’d been having them for as long as she could remember. The subject of her nightmares varied, but tonight was different. Tonight, her nightmares decided to blend together. Naturally, she suddenly didn’t feel as drowsy anymore.

She turned her head to check the digital clock on one end table by the queen-sized bed.

_2:36 a.m._

El sighed, rolling back over to lay on her side. She felt a shiver run down her spine, as the air in December made her already cold body much colder. She moved to lay on her side and pull the blanket up, facing the body on the other side of the bed.

She always loved whenever she would wake up before him, even in the middle of the night despite a nightmare. No matter how awful her nightmare was, or how fitful her sleep might’ve been – looking up from her pillow to see Mike’s serene face as he slept made all of it worth it.

It’d been 10 years since the events of the fall of 1983. So much had changed since then, some not always for the better, but the one constant good El had always had was Mike Wheeler.

Shortly after Mike’s graduation from Purdue’s school of Engineering earlier in the spring, things had moved pretty quickly. El had been working on her own education with help from Joyce, and she had recently obtained her GED and was interested in pursuing social work. She owed most of her desire to be a social worker to Mike – she wanted to help kids the same way he’d helped her.

Mike had several opportunities from Bloomington after college (with the insistent help of his telekinetic girlfriend on his independent research project), and he had arranged to move out of Hawkins into a small one-bedroom apartment a few weeks after graduation. Under normal circumstances, this would have upset El. Being apart so often while he was in college wasn’t exactly easy on her (or him).

Only he’d asked her to move in with him.

She spared a glance at her left hand.  The silver band gave a dull glow in the moonlight, the small diamond at the top giving off a subtle sparkle.

 _“It’s a promise,”_ he’d told her, when explaining why the word ‘promise’ had been engraved on the inside of the engagement ring. _“A promise that no matter what, there’s always gonna be you and me, okay?”_

They were young and they didn’t know much, other than they knew they were meant to be together.

She let her hand rest on the mattress as she looked back at Mike’s sleeping face. He faced her, arm dangling to the side (she had probably been underneath that arm until the nightmare). His lips were slightly parted as soft snores emitted from him, his dark hair tousled in every direction.

She smiled at how peaceful he looked, taking some of the edge off of the anxiety from the nightmare.

She wiggled closer to him, gently moving his arm to allow her to move closer. Her eyes remained level with his eyelids, small smile still in place. She still felt a deep sense of discomfort at the thought of her nightmare, and she sighed. She hated waking him up when he was so peaceful, but she knew he wouldn’t want her to stay up all night afraid either.

“Mike,” she whispered softly, reaching to brush his cheekbones with her fingertips.

He stirred, his eyebrows furrowing for a couple seconds before he opened his eyes, immediately being met with his wide-eyed fiancée wrapped in a fuzzy blanket.

“El,” he whispered groggily, lazily throwing his arm around her waist to let her cuddle up to him. “Is everything okay?”

His voice was thick with sleep, and El gladly took the invitation to wiggle closer. She buried her head in his chest, the smell of their new home together radiating off of him.

She nodded from her position, her voice slightly muffled by his t shirt. “Just a nightmare.”

“Do you wanna talk about it?” he offered, rubbing her back gently. Her nightmares never bothered her as much as they used to, but Mike still went to every effort to make sure she was okay (something El very much loved).

She let out a small sigh, focusing on the sound of Mike’s heartbeat. “It was the bad men. They… they wanted to take you away from me.”

She felt Mike shake his head before he pressed his lips to the top of her head. “We won against them years ago, you don’t need to worry about them anymore. They’re gone, and we’re safe. _You’re_ safe. No one’s going to pull us apart anymore, no matter how hard they try.”

With every word he spoke, she felt the fear draining from her. They had all fought so hard to get here – Mike was right. _Nothing_ was going to tear them apart now.

She knew how sensitive Mike was to the subject of the bad men; he had expressed his distaste towards them many times. No matter how early or late in the day it was brought up, it never failed to make his blood boil.

She looked up from her spot to make eye contact with him, reaching to hold his face in her hand. “You’re not worried, are you?”

He unintentionally leaned into her touch. “Not at all. I lost you once; I’m never doing it again.”

Mike’s tone was firm, sure, despite how tired she knew he was – he had no doubt that this was what was meant to be. It made her heart flutter.

“I decided…” she began, Mike raising his eyebrows at her as he stifled a yawn. “I’m never going to lose you either.”

“It’s hard to lose me when I’m not going anywhere,” he smiled, pressing an affectionate kiss to her cheek. Even to this day, she still felt her face heat up every time.

“Promise?”

“Of course I promise,” he insisted.

She felt like her heart was going to burst with adoration for the man in front of her. His loyalty never faltered, he never grew irritated or bored of her. He truly was her favorite person in the world. She just wished she had a way of explaining it.

So she settled with giving him a sweet peck on the lips. “I love you.”

“And I love you,” he told her, his eyes light yet sleepy as he smiled down at her. “Try and get some rest, okay? Tomorrow is Saturday, we can sleep in and make Eggos whenever you wake up. We can even go look for Christmas trees, and play the Nintendo when we get back.”

With all of these pleasant thoughts, she suddenly felt much drowsier. She smiled as she nodded, cuddling up to rest her head on his chest again. She felt a shiver down her spine again, but Mike was already pulling another blanket over her smaller body as they curled up together.

There had been a time in her life where she had never known love or companionship, and she thought she never would.

But as she lay curled up next to the snoring boy who had proved all of that wrong and played with the ring on her left hand, she wondered how she ever managed without it.

She drifted off to sleep with the knowledge that she’d never have to, and a smile on her face.

**Author's Note:**

> just a little something i came up with while listening to i miss you by blink-182. Hope you enjoy! let me know if i should possibly continue it? :)
> 
> check out my tumblr if you haven't!  
> reallylikeseggos.tumblr.com


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